Facilities

 Our boundary layer wind tunnel has a test section of dimensions 15"× 15"× 12' and can be operated at 1-40 m/s freestream speed. A flat plate runs through the length of the tunnel and is used to develop the TBLs of interest. This gives us access to TBLs with friction-based Reynolds numbers in the range 300 - 3000. The test section and the flat plate are highly modular, and the acrylic windows allow full optical access. 

(Rodriguez 2020)

The unsteady pressure gradients facility is a removable installation for the boundary layer wind tunnel. The installation includes a flexible false ceiling panel and an electropneumatic actuation mechanism that can statically or rapidly deform the ceiling panel. The vertical extent of deformation and the speed of deformation can be independently controlled, allowing the imposition of a range of spatial and spatio-temporal pressure gradients. In addition to being used with flat plate TBLs, the facility is being used with curved geometries that themselves impose streamwise and spanwise pressure gradients. 

(Parthasarathy and Saxton-Fox, 2022)